That Was Just the Way It Was
by Laifan
Summary: Musebox fic. It's crossover but I had no idea what section to submit to since this includes six characters from six distinct canons. Rating for swearing and possible violence. Title from Coldplay's Glass of Water.


Hey guys! I wrote this at 5am. Basically when I can't sleep sometimes my mind wanders off, which means my muses are up to no good in the little corner in my mind.

I'm sorry if the format makes it hard to read - I hate FFNet publishing forms.

My current muses are:

Yuri – Shadow Hearts;

Crowley – Good Omens;

Julia – Kyou Kara Maou;

Zack – Final Fantasy 7;

Dart – Legend of Dragoon;

Darc – Arc the Lad: twilight of the Spirits.

Yeah, you probably don't know most of them. Obscure canons and what not.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing except the scenery. This was done for pure entertainment.

**That was just the way it was**

Chapter One

A lonely figure approaches in the distance, taking in his new surroundings. He was in a small field in the middle of the spring: there was tall grass and a few flowers sprinkled throughout the plane here and there, along with a few rocks. The sky was blue and hardly clouded and the sun was shine in its zenith. It was nice. Of course, the main attraction here was the large tree up a small cliff, where the only people present were seated. It made for an odd small crowd of four men and a charming young woman with azure hair. Of course, Darc himself wasn't that 'normal', by usual standards. He looked like a crossbreed between human and dragon. He's expecting the humans to act with hostility but the closest they get is a blink of crimson eyes, a raise of a blonde eyebrow and a warm smile from impossibly blue eyes (were those even normal?). The stranger with sunglasses just smirks as he sips in a cup of what he assumes is tea (how did they get tea in here?) and mutters amusingly.

"New company…"

Needless to say, Darc is surprised as he'd at least expected the woman to run away in fright or some of the men to be hostile towards his presence. As he nears the place, he understands why that didn't happen – the woman running away. Her blue eyes clear and empty as the sky. And she was _smiling _as she accepted more tea from the man that had spoken before and chastised him lightly.

"Do be nice, Crowley. He's not used to here yet" The man just rolls his…odd snake eyes behind his glasses but doesn't say anything else, nodding politely to the lady even if she can't see him – although she did seem to have strangely acute perception for someone who couldn't see. He's distracted and his right human hand instantly slips to the hilt of his sword tucked in his kilt when the blonde guy in red armor stands up. The youth holds his hands up in the universal peace acknowledgement but before Darc can think how to react, the guy with crimson eyes is stalking over to him, muttering lightly.

"Please, stop walking on egg shells and come join us." The Deimos frowns, not used to this easiness when surrounded by humans – although he's about to revise that label soon. If he thinks Yuri was being overly polite, he's not expecting at all when the young man with spiky black hair and shocking odd blue eyes to greet him so enthusiastically at all. He glances down at the hand presented to him, in confusion.

"Don't mind them – they all get excited with new faces. I'm Zack" He frowns, hesitant. The only hand he'd ever shaken was his brother's, Kharg. If he's offended, the youth doesn't show it, his face breaking into a friendly smile as he motions to the blonde and the red eyed men.

"This is Dart and Yuri. Don't take it wrong, they're just kinda surprised" Only kinda surprised to see him? But if they were baffled they were very good at hiding it – but they didn't seem the type that concealed their emotions consciously. The man with the sunglasses now that was a different case but he'd dwell on it later.

"We were also expecting – well more like hoping – you were a woman" Darc's eyes widen in surprise at that as Yuri grimaces and scratches his head, glancing at the woman "Not that Julia's company isn't pleasant, I mean!"

The light haired woman just chuckles lightly, apparently not offended at all.

"That's nice of you, Yuri" She has a sip of tea and raises a hand in his direction. "Please, have a seat. We mean no harm" He's a bit miffed that she thinks he might even be wary of them but does as she suggests, despite his suspicion. Upon seeing the huge sword propped against the tree trunk – it looked like his, only ten times bigger – he takes his own sword and stabs it on the ground before sitting down, some way away from them. The woman smiles pleasantly – why did she remind him of Lilia? – and introduces herself.

"My name is Julia." She motions lightly to the man nifty dressed at her side, who merely waves a hand at him and mutters a 'Hi' in a strange accent "And this is Crowley. May I have your name?" Only now he becomes aware he hasn't muttered a single word. Great, right now they must think he's just a dumb, mute _beast_.

"It's Darc." He replies in his hoarse tone. She doesn't look put off at all at his tone and offers her hand "Well nice to meet you, Lord Darc" He scoffs lightly at the title – it's what the humans called Kharg. He'd never deserved such a title so easily "It's just Darc." He hesitates a bit before he takes her hand in his human one. Her empty blue eyes unsettle him slightly – it almost looked like she could see into his soul.

"My, we're such an unusual group, aren't we?" Somehow, Darc's pretty sure she knows about him not being human.

"The finest around the block" Mutters Crowley, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

The man in red armor, Dart, just makes a face "It seems Zack and I are at a disadvantage" He glances at the black haired boy with a smile.

"Please. _I'm_ at a disadvantage. You might be human as well but you grow dragon wings! How's that fair?" Grow dragon wings? Was he also a Deimos? But he looked nothing like it… There's a snort from Yuri.

"I thought you were the only one called Fair, here?"

"Hah, bloody, hah." The young man points an accusing finger at Yuri but he seems amused "I don't want to hear that from you, mister I-turn-into-ten-different-kinds-of-monsters"

He turned into monsters? What the hell were these people…?

"Fusion monsters, okay? Not your ordinary monster type…"

"Still, you have advantage in all the fights…" Dart protests.

"Please, I don't even use the stronger ones! It's hardly any advantage."

There's an amused snort from Crowley.

"That has hardly anything to do with you being fair – you're just looking out for your own hide, chap."

Yuri makes a face as everyone else laughs – except Darc, of course.

"Hey, can you blame me? I think she[1] would kill me if I made a crater in the scenery…"

Julia just shakes her head, amused – it looked like this was a common occurrence.

"You guys…" She turns gentle eyes in his general direction "You must be confused. It's alright. You'll get used to here eventually."

"Yeah, it's not that bad" Zack encourages as Dart stands up, stretching his arms.

"Ready for another round?" He ignores Zack rolling his eyes

"Please, you can be worse than me and that's saying something…" But the blonde is already heading over to the open field, sword in hand as Yuri follows him, looking like a jumpy kid on Christmas morning, cracking his knuckles.

"Not like there's much else to do around here!" He shouts back. Zack just shakes his head and pats Darc's tense shoulder, who snaps to face him. "Woah! Easy there. It's okay, they're just gonna spar. Happens all the time"

He scoffs, smirking a bit "Is that so?" He wonders how someone can nod that energetically and still have their head attached to the shoulders.

"Yep. Pay attention because most likely they're gonna put on a show, now that they have new audience. Show off…" Just then Crowley seems to have a coughing fit that surprisingly sounds like 'look who's talking'. Darc smiles for the first time, amused. Rather odd group indeed.

* * *

[1] Yes, he's referring to the mental landscape designer – aka me. My poor muses have such respect for me~


End file.
